Comparing the diagnostic value of 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen PET/CT and multiparametric MRI in pelvic lymph node metastasis of locally advanced prostate cancer.

Background: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) is a commonly used method to diagnose pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients, but there are few comparative studies on mpMRI and 68Ga-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in locally advanced PCa (LAPC) patients. Therefore, we designed a retrospective study to compare the diagnostic value of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and mpMRI for PLNM of LAPC. Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 50 patients with LAPC who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) in Tongji Hospital from 2021 to 2023. All patients underwent PET/CT and mpMRI examination, and were diagnosed as LAPC before surgery, followed by robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy or laparoscopic RP and extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND). Routine postoperative pathological examination was performed. According to the results, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and mpMRI for the diagnosis of PLNM of LAPC were compared. Results: Among the 50 patients, the mean age was 65.5±10.3 years, the preoperative total serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was 30.7±12.3 ng/mL, and the Gleason score was 7 [7, 8]. The difference in diagnostic efficacy between 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT and mpMRI in the preoperative diagnosis of PLNM of PCa was determined by postoperative pathological results. Based on the number of patients who developed PLNM, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT were as follows: 93.75%, 100.00%, 100.00%, 97.14%, and 68.75%, 97.06%, 91.67%, 86.84% for mpMRI, respectively. Based on the number of pelvic metastatic lymph nodes, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT were 95.24%, 100.00%, 100.00%, 99.48%, and 65.08%, 99.13%, 89.13%, 96.30% for mpMRI, respectively. It turned out that PET/CT was more sensitive than mpMRI in detecting PLNM of PCa, and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT is more sensitive than mpMRI in the detection of PLNM in patients with LAPC. It is a promising method in the diagnosis and preoperative assessment of PLNM in LAPC.

Molecular characterization, expression and immune functional analysis of cystatin 10 in turbot.

BACKGROUND: Cystatin is a protease inhibitor that also regulates genes expression linked to inflammation and plays a role in defense and regulation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Cystatin 10 (Smcys10) was cloned from Scophthalmus maximus and encodes a 145 amino acid polypeptide. The results of qRT-PCR showed that Smcys10 exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns, and its expression was significantly higher in the skin than in other tissues. The expression level of Smcys10 was significantly different in the skin, gill, head kidney, spleen and macrophages after Vibrio anguillarum infection, indicating that Smcys10 may play an important role in resistance to V. anguillarum infection. The recombinant Smcys10 protein showed binding and agglutinating activity in a Ca2+-dependent manner against bacteria. rSmcys10 treatment upregulated the expression of IL-10, TNF-α and TGF-ß in macrophages of turbot and hindered the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from macrophages after V. anguillarum infection, which confirmed that rSmcys10 reduced the damage to macrophages by V. anguillarum. The NF-κB pathway was suppressed by Smcys10, as demonstrated by dual-luciferase analysis. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that Smcys10 is involved in the host antibacterial immune response.

Genome-wide identification, characterization, molecular evolution and expression profiling analysis of scavenger receptors in black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii).

The scavenger receptors (SRs) gene family is considered as the membrane-associated pattern recognition receptors that plays important roles in the immune responses of organisms. However, there is currently limited research on the systematic identification of the SRs gene family in teleost and their role in the innate immunity of S. schegelii. In this study, we identified and annotated 15 SRs genes in S. schegelii. Through phylogenetic analysis, analysis of conserved domains, gene structure, and motif composition, we found that SRs gene family within different classes were relatively conserved. Additionally, we used qRT-PCR to analyze the expression patterns of SRs genes in immune-related tissues from healthy and Acinetobacter johnsonii-infected S. schegelii. The results showed that SRs genes exhibited different tissue expression patterns and the expression of SRs genes significantly changed after A. johnsonii infection. These results provided a valuable basis for further understanding of the functions of SRs in the innate immune response of S. schegelii.

C-type lectin 12B/4E of black rockfish (Sebastes schlegelii) macrophages as pattern recognition receptors in the antibacterial mechanism of exploration.

As lower vertebrates, fish have both innate and adaptive immune systems, but the role of the adaptive immune system is limited, and the innate immune system plays an important role in the resistance to pathogen infection. C-type lectins (CLRs) are one of the major pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) of the innate immune system. CLRs can combine with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) to trigger NF-κB signaling pathway and exert immune efficacy. In this study, Ssclec12b and Ssclec4e of the C-type lectins, were found to be significantly up-regulated in the transcripts of Sebastes schlegelii macrophages stimulated by bacteria. The identification, expression and function of these lectins were studied. In addition, the recombinant proteins of the above two CLRs were obtained by prokaryotic expression. We found that rSsCLEC12B and rSsCLEC4E could bind to a variety of bacteria in a Ca2+-dependent manner, and promoted the agglutination of bacteria and blood cells. rSsCLEC12B and rSsCLEC4E assisted macrophages to recognize PAMPs and activate the NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby promoting the expression of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8) and regulating the early immune inflammation of macrophages. These results suggested that SsCLEC12B and SsCLEC4E could serve as PRRs in S. schlegelii macrophages to recognize pathogens and participate in the host antimicrobial immune process, and provided a valuable reference for the study of CLRs involved in fish innate immunity.

Initial Experience with Hybrid Partial Nephrectomy with Ultrasound-guided Balloon Catheter Occlusion of the Renal Artery for Recurrent Renal Tumors.

Repeat partial nephrectomy (PN) is an effective treatment in improving the prognosis for patients with recurrent renal cancer after initial PN. However, salvage PN (sPN) is inevitably associated with a higher rate of complications, largely because of intraperitoneal adhesions and fibrosis. Here we describe three initial cases for which recurrent renal tumors were treated with a novel minimally invasive approach, namely Ultrasound-guided Renal Artery Balloon catheter Occluded Hybrid Partial Nephrectomy (UBo-HPN).With laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS) guiding a Fogarty catheter to occlude the arterial blood supply, dissection of the renal hilum and most of the abdominal cavity can be avoided. UBo-HPN was successfully performed in three patients. One case of postoperative fever (Clavien-Dindo grade II) occurred, with no other complications. The mean operative time was 106 min, with a mean warm ischemia time of 21 min. UBo-HPN may be considered a safe and effective alternative for sPN, with a minimally invasive surgical footprint and better surgical outcomes.

Coulomb blockade and Coulomb staircases in CoBi nanoislands on SrTiO3(001).

We successfully fabricated two-dimensional metallic CoBi nanoislands on SrTiO3(001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy, and systematically investigated their electronic structures by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopyin situat 4.2 K. Coulomb blockade and Coulomb staircases with discrete and well-separated levels are observed for the individual nanoisland, which is attributed to single-electron tunneling via two tunnel junction barriers. They are in excellent agreement with the simulations based on orthodox theory. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the Coulomb blockade becomes weaker with increasing temperature and almost disappears at ∼22 K in our variable temperature experiment, and its full-width at half-maximum of dI/dVpeaks with temperature is ∼6 mV. Our results provide a new platform for designing single-electron transistors that have potential applications in future microelectronics.

Continuous dynamic measurement of frequency scanning interferometry based on motion phase synchronization compensation and calibration.

We present a continuous dynamic frequency scanning interferometry (DFSI) measurement method based on motion phase synchronization compensation and calibration. By introducing heterodyne interferometry (HI) synchronization measurement and frequency scanning interferometry (FSI) motion phase compensation, dynamic continuous measurement is achieved and effectively suppresses the distance error introduced by the Doppler effect (DE). Based on this, the influence of the initial optical frequency deviation (OFD) of the tunable laser and the OFD of the HI laser on the dynamic absolute distance measurement (DADM) is analyzed; the relationships between the error of DADM with the variation of the OFD and the target motion parameters are investigated; and the residual DE introduced by the OFD is shown as the fundamental cause of the degradation of the accuracy of DFSI. We propose an online optical frequency measurement method based on HI combined with H13C14N gas absorption cells to resolve this problem. High-precision motion phase compensation is achieved by calibrating the optical frequency (fixed frequency) of the measured HI laser and the initial frequency of the tunable laser online during measurement and then performing motion phase calibration. To verify the effectiveness of our method, an optical frequency calibration experiment, a continuous DADM experiment, and a precision evaluation experiment were conducted, and a highly accurate continuous DADM was achieved.

Real-time high-precision FMCW laser range extraction method based on a hardware multiplier array.

Frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) laser interferometry is an ideal large-scale absolute distance measurement method. It has advantages of high precision and noncooperative target measurement capability, with no blind spot for ranging. To meet the requirements of high-precision, high-speed 3D topography measurement technologies, a faster measurement speed of FMCW LiDAR at each measurement point is required. To solve the shortcomings of the existing technology, a real-time high-precision hardware solution method (including but not limited to FPGA and GPU) for lidar beat frequency signals is provided here based on hardware multiplier arrays to reduce lidar beat frequency signal processing time and to save energy and resource consumption during processing. A high-speed FPGA architecture was also designed for the frequency-modulated continuous wave lidar range extraction algorithm. The whole algorithm was designed and implemented in real time based on the principle of full-pipelines and parallelism. The results show that the processing speed of the FPGA system is faster than that of current top-performing software implementations.

Adaptive control with unknown mass estimation for a quadrotor-slung-load system.

In aerial load transportation applications, knowing the mass of the load in advance is not always possible. The load dynamics depend on its mass and using a high-performance model-based controller with an inaccurate mass will introduce unmodeled disturbances to the system that will negatively affect the closed-loop performance. This paper addresses the design of a trajectory tracking controller for a quadrotor with a slung-load that has an unknown mass. The proposed solution is an adaptive controller with online estimation designed using the backstepping technique. Nonlinear control laws for thrust and angular velocity, and an adaption law for mass estimation are proposed, which guarantee the convergence of the trajectory tracking and the estimation errors to zero, and are robust to variations in load mass. Simulation and experimental results are presented to assess the validity and performance of the proposed controller.

Increased expression of SLC38A2 in natural killer cells promotes anti-tumor immunity / 肿瘤

Objective:To investigate the effect of solute carrier family 38 member 2(SLC38A2)on the cytotoxicity of natural killer(NK)cells against tumor cells. Methods:Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of different glutamine transporters(SLC38A2,SLC1A5,SLC7A5,SLC7A1 and SLC1A4)in natural killer(NK)cells under glutamine deficiency or the spleens of dieting mice.NK-92MI cells were infected with the recombinant lentivirus carrying SLC38A2 gene to construct SLC38A2-overexpressing NK cells.After SLC38A2 overexpression or increasing glutamine concentration,the lactate dehydrogenase releasing assay was used to detect the cytotoxicity of NK cells against pancreatic tumor cell PANC-1 and liver cancer cell HUH-7,and the apoptosis of two tumor cells was detected by flow cytometry assay after AnnexinV/7-AAD staining.Finally,the expression level of cell surface CD107a,a degranulation marker,as well as the expression of cytotoxic effectors interferon-γ(IFN-γ)and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),in NK cells was further investigated by flow cytometry. Results:The mRNA expression of glutamine transporter SLC38A2 was significantly upregulated in NK cells under glutamine deficient conditions and the spleens of dieting mice(P＜0.001,P＜0.01).SLC38A2-overexpressing NK-92MI cell model were successfully established.Overe-xpression of SLC38A2 or glutamine treatment could significantly increase the cytotoxicity of NK-92MI cells against pancreatic tumor cell PANC-1 and liver cancer cell HUH-7(P＜0.05)and obviously promote the apoptosis of tumor cells(P＜0.01).Flow cytometry analysis results showed that SLC38A2-overexpressing NK-92MI cells significantly increased CD1 07a expression on the cell surface and produced more IFN-γ and TNF-α when co-cultured with tumor cells(P＜0.001). Conclusion:The amino acid transporter SLC38A2 can significantly enhance the cytotoxicity of NK cells against tumor cells.

Antitussive Effect of Shegan Zhike Capsule and Its Effect on RARs Receptor,HA and 5-HT / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

Objective To explore the antitussive action site and potential mechanism of Shegan Zhike Capsule.Methods The mouse cough model induced by concentrated ammonia was used to observe the dose effect relationship of the antitussive effect of Shegan Zhike capsule.The central antitussive effect of Shegan Zhike capsule was observed by using the cough model induced by electrical stimulation of superior laryngeal nerve in guinea pigs.The peripheral antitussive effect of Shegan Zhike capsule was observed by using the cough model of capsaicin desensitized guinea pigs induced by mechanical stimulation.The model of chronic bronchitis in guinea pigs was established by smoking,and the effects of Shegan Zhike Capsule on vasoactive amines histamine(HA)and 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT)were observed.Results Shegan Zhike capsule could significantly reduce the number of coughs in mice at the doses of 43.00,86.00 and 172.00 mg extract·kg-1(P<0.05 or P<0.01).The low-dose group,the middle-dose group,and the high-dose group of Shegan Zhike Capsule did not significantly inhibit the cough inducing effect of electrical stimulation of guinea pig superior laryngeal nerve at 30 min and 60 min after administration.Shegan Zhike capsule could significantly inhibit the cough of capsaicin desensitized guinea pigs caused by mechanical stimulation in the low dose group at 60 min,the medium dose group at 30 min and the high dose group at 30 min and 60 min(P<0.05).Compared with the model control group,the content of HA in serum of guinea pigs in low,medium and high dose groups of Shegan Zhike capsule decreased significantly(P<0.05 or P<0.01).The content of serum 5-HT in the high dose group decreased significantly(P<0.05).Conclusion The antitussive effect of Shegan Zhike Capsule was not in the center,and its peripheral antitussive effect was related to the inhibition of RARs receptors,and vasoactive amines such as HA and 5-HT were also involved.

Identification of Chemical Components and Blood Components of Tianmaxingnao capsules Based on UPLC-Q/TOF-MS / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

Objective The chemical composition and blood components of Tianmaxingnao capsules were discovered and examined using UPLC-Q/TOF-MS,and the possible pharmacological substance basis was preliminarily elucidated.Methods An UPLC-Q/TOF-MS method was developed in this study to determine the chemical composition of Tianma Xingnao capsules.After administration of Tianmaxingnao capsules,gather and examine rat plasma samples to investigate the exposed components of Tianmaxingnao capsules in rats.Results A total of 195 chemical components were identified in Tianmaxingnao capsules,including phenols,triterpenoid saponins,phenylethanol glycosides,cyclic ether terpenes,lipids,and phenylpropanoids.These components include those that are typical of Gastrodia elata Bl,Pheretima,Cistanche deserticola Ma,Rehmannia glutinosa,Polygala hybrida DC,and Acorus tatarinowii.Rat plasma samples were used to identify 37 prototype components and 3 metabolites of Tianmaxingnao capsules after they were administered.Conclusion This approach is easy to use,effective,sensitive,and precise.It may be used to investigate Tianmaxingnao capsules and the components that reach the bloodstream in detail,as well as to provide a first understanding of the pharmacological basis of the capsules.This study serves as a foundation for clarifying the pharmacological basis of Tianmaxingnao capsules and holds some reference value in exposing the pharmacological mechanism of the product.

Determination of polymyxin B concentration in plasma and its application in critically ill patients / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To establish a method for the determination of polymyxin B concentration in plasma and apply it to clinical practice. METHODS After precipitated with 5% trichloroacetic acid solution， using polymyxin E2 as internal standard， the concentrations of polymyxin B1 and B2 in plasma sample were determined by UPLC-MS/MS. The determination was performed on BEH C18 chromatographic column with water （0.1% formic acid）-acetonitrile （0.1% formic acid） as mobile phase （gradient elution） at the flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The sample size was 10 µL. The detection was accomplished with electrospray ionization operated in positive ion scanning by multi-reaction monitoring mode. The ion pairs for quantitative analysis were m/z 603.2→101.2 （polymyxin B1）， m/z 595.7→101.1 （polymyxin B2） and m/z 578.5→101.1 （internal standard）. The plasma concentration of polymyxin B in 79 critically ill patients was measured by the above method， the occurrence of acute renal injury （AKI） was recorded and the relationship of polymyxin B concentration in plasma with AKI was analyzed. RESULTS The linear ranges of polymyxin B1 and polymyxin B2 were 200-20 000， 50-5 000 ng/mL （r＞0.995）， and the lower limits of quantification were 200 and 50 ng/mL， respectively. RSDs of intra‐day and inter‐day precision tests were not higher than 12.06%， the average extraction recovery was 103.04%-117.44%， and RSDs of matrix effect test and stability test were all not higher than 7.42%. Steady state trough and peak plasma concentration were （2.54±2.52） and （8.17±5.20） mg/L for 79 clinical patients using polymyxin B. Eighteen patients out of 27 included patients developed AKI， with an incidence of 66.67%. The peak concentration of polymyxin B of patients without AKI was significantly lower than that of patients with AKI （P＜0.05）， but there was no significant difference in the trough concentration between two groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS The established UPLC-MS/MS has the advantages of simple operation and high sensitivity， and can be used to monitor the plasma concentration of polymyxin B in patients. The occurrence of AKI is correlated with the peak concentration of polymyxin B.

Dynamic nonlinearity errors in laser Doppler vibrometer measurements induced by environmental vibration and error correction.

Laser Doppler vibrometers (LDVs) are widely used for vibration testing in various fields. Nonlinearity errors are the key factor affecting the measurement accuracy of LDVs. The conventional Heydemann method cannot correct nonlinearity errors produced by noisy environments. Thus, we establish a novel model to describe dynamic nonlinearity errors produced in noisy environments and propose a compensation method to mitigate signal distortion. The performance of the proposed method is assessed by performing both simulations and experiments. The results of experiments carried out in a noisy environment indicate that the proposed method suppresses the nonlinearity to 30 nm compared to 737 nm using the conventional Heydemann correction. The proposed method can improve the accuracy of LDV measurements in industrial environments.

Research on the Mechanism of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction for Osteoporosis Based on Systematic Biological Strategies.

Background: Osteoporosis is an important health problem worldwide. Liuwei Dihuang Decoction (LDD) and its main ingredients may have a good clinical effect on osteoporosis. Meanwhile, its mechanism for treating osteoporosis needs to be further revealed in order to provide a basis for future drug development. Methods: A systematic biological methodology was utilized to construct and analyze the LDD-osteoporosis network. After that, the human transcription data of LDD intervention in patients with osteoporosis and protein arrays data of LDD intervention in osteoporosis rats were collected. The human transcription data analysis, protein arrays data analysis, and molecular docking were performed to validate the findings of the prediction network (LDD-osteoporosis PPI network). Finally, animal experiments were conducted to verify the prediction results of systematic pharmacology. Results: (1) LDD-osteoporosis PPI network shows the potential compounds, potential targets (such as ALB, IGF1, SRC, and ESR1), clusters, biological processes (such as positive regulation of calmodulin 1-monooxygenase activity, estrogen metabolism, and endothelial cell proliferation), and signaling and Reactome pathways (such as JAK-STAT signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation, and degradation of the extracellular matrix) of LDD intervention in osteoporosis. (2) Human transcriptomics data and protein arrays data validated the findings of the LDD-osteoporosis PPI network. (3) The animal experiments showed that LDD can improve bone mineral density (BMD), increase serum estradiol (E2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, and upregulate Wnt3a and ß-catenin mRNA expression (P < 0.05). (4) Molecular docking results showed that alisol A, dioscin, loganin, oleanolic acid, pachymic acid, and ursolic acid may stably bind to JAK2, ESR1, and CTNNB1. Conclusion: LDD may have a therapeutic effect on osteoporosis through regulating the targets (such as ALB, IGF1, SRC, and ESR1), biological processes (such as positive regulation of calmodulin 1-monooxygenase activity, estrogen metabolism, and endothelial cell proliferation), and pathways (such as JAK-STAT signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation, and degradation of the extracellular matrix) found in this research.

Associations between ATG16L1 gene polymorphism and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis in the Chinese Guangxi population: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is an autoimmune disease often accompanied by rapidly progressive renal failure, and the genetic background is still unknown. Our study was performed to test whether autophagy-related 16 like 1 (ATG16L1) rs4663402 and rs4663396 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with AAV in the Chinese Guangxi population. METHODS: One hundred seventy seven unrelated AAV patients and 216 healthy controls were included in this case-control study. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction combined with high-throughput sequencing was used for typing, and SNPStats and SHEsis were used for association analysis, pairwise linkage disequilibrium, and haplotype analysis. RESULTS: rs4663402 and rs4663396 were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in AAV and control groups. The frequencies of rs4663402 AA, AT, and TT genotypes were 82.5%, 16.9%, and 0.6%, respectively, in patients with AAV, and 83.5%, 16.2%, and 0.5%, respectively, in controls. The frequencies of rs4663396 CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 63.8%, 33.9%, and 2.3%, respectively, in patients with AAV, and 69.2%, 26.6%, and 4.2%, respectively, in controls. Haplotype analysis revealed two SNPs in a single haplotype block (D' = 1.0). Our logistic regression adjusted for sex and age showed no association between rs4663402 and rs4663396 and the risk for AAV in genetic models (p > 0.05). However, ATG16L1 rs4663396 CC and CT + TT genotypes exhibited statistically significant differences in the incidence of arthralgia (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that ATG16L1 rs4663402 and rs4663396 polymorphisms were not associated with AAV in the Chinese Guangxi population. ATG16L1 rs4663396 CT + TT genotype may be associated with arthralgia.

[Corrigendum] MicroRNA­10b promotes migration and invasion through KLF4 and HOXD10 in human bladder cancer.

Following the publication of the above paper, an interested reader drew to the authors' attention that, in Fig. 2 on p. 1835, which was designed to show how miR­10b promotes the migration and invasion of human bladder cancer cell lines in vitro, there appeared to be several overlapping panels such that certain of the data may have been derived from the same original sources, even though they were intended to show the results obtained under different experimental conditions. The authors have re­examined their original data, and have realized that the errors arose as a consequence of inadvertently misfiling and mishandling the data. The corrected version of Fig. 2 is shown below. Note that these errors did not affect the overall conclusions reported in the study. All the authors agree to the publication of this corrigendum, and are grateful to the Editor of Oncology Reports for allowing them the opportunity to publish it; furthermore, they apologize for any inconvenience caused to the readership of the Journal. [the original article was published in Oncology Reports 31: 1832­1838, 2014; DOI: 10.3892/or.2014.3048].

Erratum: Inhibition of SMYD2 suppresses tumor progression by down-regulating microRNA-125b and attenuates multi-drug resistance in renal cell carcinoma: Erratum.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7150/thno.37628.].